Ever looked at the Yamaha Stage Custom and thought: “You know what this kit needs? More VIBE!”. Well, your prayers have been answered in the form of the brand-new Yamaha Stage Custom Hip! It sounds amazing, but don’t just take my word for it. Ladies, Gentlemen and others, Mr Richard Spaven…
Mind-blowing stuff, AMIRITE?! These drums coupled with the rhythmic machine that is Richard Spaven is something I’d happily watch time and time again. It can’t all be down to the performance though, so let’s do the deep-dive on what makes the Stage Custom Hip pretty unique…
The Stage Custom Hip takes the concept of “cocktail kit” and flips it upside down, back to front. For starters, and perhaps most obviously, the bass drum. It’s essentially the same bass drum from the Stage Custom if it got flattened by a poorly positioned TON weight from a great height in an attempt to catch Road Runner, making it 20x8in.
Thankfully, it still feels like you’re playing a full-size bass drum, with the 8in depth allowing minimal air-flow, MAXIMUM punch. As you can hear from Spavens performance, it sounds HUGE!
Allow me to pose you a simple riddle; What has two snares but only one snare drum? I’ll answer for you, the Stage Custom Hip. The first snare is a 13x5in “does what it says on the tin” snare. The second “snare” is masquerading as the 13x8in Floor Tom, otherwise known as THE SNOM! The Floor Tom is fitted with 20-strand snare wires, transforming this boring floor tom into a ballad snare BOSS.
Completing the kit is the 10x5in Rack Tom mounted from the bass drum, which is nice and compact but can still pack a punch. Combine these all together and you have a tidy little kit that sounds and looks great, speaking of looks…
The Stage Custom Hip comes in three different finishes; Natural, Raven Black & Matte Surf Green. The Matte Surf Green is by far my favourite finish, plus it looks exactly like a baby Recording Custom kit in Surf Green – surely that’s intentional. The final result is a kit that’s lightweight, compact and as you can hear from Spaven, sounds absolutely amazing.
The SNOM is a fantastic yet subtle nod to the Yamaha HipGig kit of yester-year proving you can still fit one drum inside another, you just need the right approach. The bass drum unashamedly stands out from the other competitive small kits making it a full-size fun-sized joy to play.
It’s only logical to combine the Stage Custom Hip with CrossTown hardware and an EAD10 to give yourself a pretty impressive little gigging kit, or with mesh heads for a neat practice kit that doesn’t take up much room. Even if you already have a small kit, do yourself a favour: Bin it & get the Stage Custom Hip!
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